It proved to be candy, and she waved a sticky spoon in welcome.  Mrs. Walton was in a hammock, near by, her mending basket beside her, and Kitty and Elise on the grass at her feet, watching the molasses bubble up in the kettle.  Betty felt a little shy at first, for this was her first meeting with the General’s wife, and she wished that the girls would not insist on having an immediate outline of the play.  It had seemed very fine indeed to her when she read it aloud to herself, or repeated it to Lloyd.  It had not seemed a very childish thing to her even when she read it to her godmother.  But she shrank from Mrs. Walton’s criticism.  It was with many blushes that she began.  Afterward she wondered why she should have been timid about it.  Mrs. Walton applauded it so heartily, and entered into plans for making the entertainment a success as enthusiastically as any of the girls.

“I bid to be witch!” cried Kitty, when Betty had finished.

“I’d like to be the queen, if you don’t care,” said Allison, “for I am the largest, and I’d rather act with Rob than the other boys.  But it doesn’t make any difference.  I’ll be anything you want me to.”

“That’s the way Betty planned it,” said Lloyd.  “I’m to be the captive princess, and Keith will be my brother whom the witch changes into a dog.  That’s Hero, of co’se.  Malcolm will be the knight who rescues me.  Rob Moore will be king, and Elise the queen of the fairies, and Ranald the ogah.”

“Ranald said last night that he wouldn’t be in the play if he had to learn a lot of foolishness to speak, or if he couldn’t be disguised so that nobody would know him,” said Kitty.  “He’ll help any other way, fixing the stage and the red lights and all that, but the Captain has a dread of making himself appear ridiculous.  Now I don’t.  I’d rather have the funny parts than the high and mighty ones.”

“He might be Frog-eye-Fearsome,” suggested Betty.  “Then he wouldn’t have anything to do but drag the prince and princess across the stage to the ogre’s tower, and the costume could be so hideous that no one could tell whether a human or a hobgoblin was inside of it.”

“Who’ll buy all the balloons for the fairies, and make our spangled wings?” asked Elise.  “Oh, I know,” she cried, instantly answering her own question.  “I’ll tell Aunt Elise all about it, and I know that she’ll help.”

“How will you go all the way to the seashore to tell her?” asked Kitty.

“She isn’t at the seashore,” answered Elise, with an air of triumph.  “She came back from Narragansett Pier last night.  Didn’t she, mamma?  And she and Malcolm and Keith are coming out to grandmother’s this afternoon as straight as the train can carry them, you might know.  They always do, first thing.  Don’t they, mamma?”

Mrs. Walton nodded yes, then said:  “Suppose you bring the play down this afternoon, Betty.  Ask your mother to come too, Lloyd, and we’ll read it out under the trees.  Now are all the characters decided upon?”